How to overcome the Problem of Incomprehensible characters when executing 3.X Web template

In this article we will discuss about the cause of getting Incomprehensible characters when executing 3.X Web template and how to overcome this issue with simple steps. In this article I have explained two solutions for this issue with screen shots so that it will be very easy to understand.

When we got his issue in our project we were not able to trace the issue easily and we faced lot of escalations from the users. So I thought this article will help those who are facing this issue and help them in resolving the issue and face minimal escalations from client.

This article will help you in understanding the cause of this error when executing the 3.X Web template and different solution to overcome this issue.

2 Prerequisites

I have assumed that the user of this article knows how to design his own query and the usage of WAD. To observe the mentioned issue in your system, you need to have WAD Templates developed and being used in your system and the Windows security patch KB956844 is applied in the system.

3 Cause

The WAD 3.x is using the DHTMLedit control of Microsoft, which has several security gaps when being used in the Internet Explorer. The PC on which the BEx Web Application Designer 3.x (WAD 3.x) is installed has the operating system Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, or Windows XP and the security update for Windows XP (KB956844) is implemented. When you edit data in the Web Application Designer 3.x, a META tag is inserted into the template. This tag declares the source text as Unicode: , this result in the cause of this issue.

4 Solution

4.1 Make changes at the IE level (this will work for just that instance)

By making changes at the IE level after the Query is executed, we will be able to resolve this issue for that instance, this is not going to solve our issue permanently, the same issue will persist when the WAD Template is executed again.

4.2 Make changes in the WAD Template, change the code in the HTML tab of the Template.

By making changes in the HTML code of the WAD Template we can resolve this issue for that particular WAD Template. This will resolve the issue permanently for that particular WAD Template for which the changes have been made.

5 Step By Step Procedure

When an existing WAD Template is executed after making changes to it or a new WAD Template is created and executed ( after the security update for Windows XP (KB956844) is implemented).

The result is shown in the below screen. The result we are getting is a full page of incomprehensible characteristics, which we will not be able to follow or understand.

After Executing the WAD Template:

To resolve the above issue, we can go with the below solution. This solution will resolve the issue for that instance.

5.1 Make changes at the IE level (this will work for just that instance)

Now to get the report output as desired, we need to make changes as follows:

Goto–> View–> Encoding–> Unicode(UTF-8)

As shown in the below screen shot.

After the above steps have been followed, the Query will result in the desired format.

This will work for this instance only, once the WAD Template is executed again it will give the same error.

To get a permanent fix for that WAD Template we can follow the second method.

After Making the Changes:

5.2 Make changes in the WAD Template, change the code in the HTML tab of the Template.

Now to get the report output as desired, we need to make changes as follows:

Goto –>HTML Tab of the WAD Template–> make changes as mentioned below.As shown in the below screen shot.

This is not related to the SAP Basis Patch. This is related to the security path KB956844 for windows…It is caused by Internet Explorer indeed.There is an OSS note 1390941 which describes exactly this, please go through the note for more information.